After what has been a breakthrough season Canada’s Leylah Fernandez admits she still has a way to go in order to achieve the biggest goals of her career.
The 19-year-old has rocketed up the rankings by more than 60 places since the start of 2021 to a career high of 24th in the world. In March she broke new territory by winning her maiden WTA title at the Monterey Open in Mexico despite being unseeded in the draw. Fernandez’s breakthrough failed to materialize initially with the youngster failing to reach the quarter-final stage at her next 11 tournaments played.
However, it was at the US Open where she regained her momentum with a fairytale run which stunned the women’s Tour. Impressively, she scored four consecutive wins over top 20 players, including Naomi Osaska, Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka. Playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for only the seventh time in her career, she fell in the final to fellow rising star Emma Raducanu who became the first qualifier in history to win a major title.
“I still can‘t accept that defeat, but I learned what I can teach the world and that I can play against the greats,” she said of her loss to Raducanu to news agency EFE.
Looking ahead to the future, the 2019 French Open junior champion says she wants to improve all areas of her game in order to be ranked among the best in the world. She is one of three players to end the 2021 season in the world’s top 25. The other two are Raducanu at 19th and Coco Gauff at 22nd.
“I have to improve my whole game. Improve my forehand, my serve, my volley, all by two or three percent to be among the 10 in the ranking, among the five, and one day at number one and win a Grand Slam,” she stated.
Growing up Fernandez has been coached by her father Jorge who did not come from a tennis background. He was born in Ecuador but moved to Canada at the age of four before becoming a Canadian citizen a decade later. Jorge was a semi-professional football and said the skills he learned from the pitch has helped him during his coaching career.
Fernandez will start her 2022 season at the Adelaide International which takes place during the first week of January.
